Thailand's cabinet raises incentive rebate for foreign film production up to 20%

On 20th September 2022, Trisuree Trisoranakul, the Deputy Spokesperson of the Thai government's Prime Minister Office, announced that the Thai government has approved the allocation of the budget of 212.102 million baht from Annual Budget Expenditure 2022 to pay cash rebate for 6 foreign movies in accordance with Thailand's incentive schemes to attract big budgets from foreign film productions to the kingdom. According to Trisuree, this Film Incentive Measures belong to the Thailand Film Office (TFO), Department of Tourism, by implementing this scheme, Thailand intended to reward filmmakers who invest 50 million baht or more in filming in Thailand. Since the program was first introduced in 2017, there have been a total of 43 projects that have opted to participate, which brought in more than 8,560 million baht to boost Thailand Economy.

The primary incentive of this scheme is a 15% cash rebate + 5% of additional incentive as follows:

+5% In promoting Thai Tourism, Soft Power, and a Positive Reflection of Thailand

+3% For hiring Key Thai Personnel

+3% For filming in areas designated by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MOTS)

+2% For spending on post-production services in Thailand

Considering such success, TFO also decides to renew the 5% additional cash rebate for minimum local spend of more than 100 million baht (approximately 2.7 million dollars) in Thailand to foreign productions that begin their shooting processes from before 31st December 2022  to  before 31st December 2023.

In addition, there are two motivating policies to attract foreign filmmakers even more.

First, the Cabinet has approved “The Exemption of Foreign Actor Tax” for 5 years which is now under the legislation process of the Ministry of Finance.

Second, from the 1st September 2022 onwards, foreign filmmakers and crews of the film production eligible to receive cash rebate can apply for VISA and Work Permit at the BOI One Stop Service Center, which can be found on the 18th floor of the Chamchuri Square Building.

All of the above demonstrates how the Thai government is now fully aware of the expanding competitive situation in the film industry, as well as the increasing disruption of streaming platforms that enter the traditional filmmaking process. This, however, can be seen as a part of the income generating scheme, which will grow with the implementation of more enabling policies in the future.

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